Officials find dead police officer

FOUL PLAY Prosecutors launched a murder inquiry after the officer's body was found floating in Malankou Creek and his scooter was found abandoned at the roadside

By Jimmy Chuang / STAFF REPORTER

Police in Hualien County yesterday launch a murder investigation along the Malankou Creek after the body of their colleague, Yu Chien-hua, was found there. Yu had gone to investigate a report about illegal fishing on Wednesday night and was found dead around 1am yesterday.

PHOTO: YANG YI-CHUNG, TAIPEI TIMESN

Hualien prosecutors launched a murder inquiry yesterday after the body of a local police officer, Yu Chien-hua (余健華), was found floating in Malankou Creek. Colleagues said he had gone to investigate a report about illegal fishing with electronic devices in the creek.

Prosecutor Lee Chuan-ho (李傳侯) of the Hualien District Prosecutors' Office is investigating the case and said that Yu died before his body hit the water.

Officers discovered Yu's scooter, his pistol and a magazine with 11 bullets at the scene.

But they also discovered that one of Yu's bullets had been fired from his pistol and a 12-bullet magazine was missing from his equipment.

"Yu was shot in the head," Lee said.

"The forensic pathologists said that they found two major wounds on Yu's head and they were the reasons for his death. In addition, there was no water in his lungs, which is an obvious sign that he did not drown.

"But we need further investigation to find out whether Yu was shot with his own pistol or if the killer used another weapon to shoot him," he added.

Yu was the chief officer at the Mayuan and Fuyuan police stations under the Fenglin Precinct of the Hualien Police Department. According to his colleagues, the 44-year-old officer received a tip by telephone from a local resident that fish were being electrocuted in Malankou Creek around 8:35pm on Wednesday night.

Fishing with electronic devices is illegal in Taiwan.

Having checked out his pistol and 24 bullets in two magazines, Yu left on a police scooter to check out the scene.

The police said they tried to contact Yu around 10pm by police radio, but received no response.

As a result, officers at the police stations called for back-up to look for Yu. They finally found him dead in the creek at approximately 1am yesterday morning.